[frickfrock999]

http://kotaku.com/valves-top-vr-expert-jumps-to-oculus-1553788613
Quote:

Valve's Michael Abrash, who was just giving a talk about the wonders of virtual reality at the company's Steam Dev Days in January and has seemingly led the company's VR research, has taken a job as chief scientist at red-hot VR company Oculus. In announcing his move, Abrash also explained why Facebook's controversial $2 billion purchase of Oculus is great news:

So now, he's either one of two things.

Is he an incredibly smart visionary who truly sees a future in Facebook?

Or...

Is he just a massive sellout?

 

[Dyson Poindexter]

Sellout.

 

[mtbiker033]

looking for his part of the $2billion

 

[kingduqc]

Im not so sure if striving for your dream to become a reality is being a sellout. Facebook aquisition has its downside but injecting 2 billion into the project make it clear that it will be a growing industry. What ever facebook has in mind a great vr experience is great no matter who owns it. High res,low latence screen and high FOV is what they are aiming for and its perfect foe gaming.

I wish it was valve that bought it but can you guys stop eith the doom and gloom.

 

[Dantron]

Definite sellout, who wouldn't want to try for 2 billion?

 

[Scars Unseen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtbiker033

looking for his part of the $2billion

Because that makes sense. That would be like showing up the day after the birthday party and expecting a piece of cake to be waiting for you.

My opinion: as long as John Carmack is with Oculus, there's still a reason for people interested in the future of VR to be there. He's just not the sort of guy that would hang around if there wasn't something to keep him interested.

 

[Bomster]

He sold out like everyone else would have done.

 

[GreenArchon]

An incredibly smart visionary who truly sees a future in Facebook VR.

I doubt he moved just for the money (might have helped however), because
a) Valve also pays its employees pretty well (especially someone like Abrash)
b) Last time John Carmack and Michael Abrash worked together, they made the quake engine.

 

[TheBlindDeafMute]

I'm excited for this. That's a lot of money to throw into any one project, and even though it was Facebook that bought them, I think it will work. I was shocked when I heard that they bought oculus, but not worried about what was going to happen. Having the capital to back the product can only mean good things for oculus. Having recruited another gaming veteran can only mean good things as well. Quit tripping people, and just let it play out.

 

[deepor]

Here's a book I bought at the end of the last century:



It's 1400 pages. It helped me a lot in learning how to approach an optimization problem in programming. Him and Carmack were real heroes with the software renderer they managed to build for the original Quake.

I can't imagine the guy being after money. I bet he's genuine about just wanting to work on what's most awesome. He also won't get any of those two billion dollars. He's an employee after all, not one of the owners.

 

[mechati]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frickfrock999

http://kotaku.com/valves-top-vr-expert-jumps-to-oculus-1553788613
So now, he's either one of two things.

Is he an incredibly smart visionary who truly sees a future in Facebook?

Or...

Is he just a massive sellout?

1. like most - he just follows the mullah

Quote:

Originally Posted by deepor

Here's a book I bought at the end of the last century:



It's 1400 pages. It helped me a lot in learning how to approach an optimization problem in programming. Him and Carmack were real heroes with the software renderer they managed to build for the original Quake.

I can't imagine the guy being after money. I bet he's genuine about just wanting to work on what's most awesome. He also won't get any of those two billion dollars. He's an employee after all, not one of the owners.

2. being genuine - why leave vlave = go see 1.

 

[Mehdi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mechati

1. like most - he just follows the mullah
2. being genuine - why leave vlave = go see 1.

Because Valve isn't really focusing on VR in the same perspective? Valve already gave the OR guys some of their IP for free, which in itself is an indicator.

 

[Boinz]

Heres the problem, is gaming VR going to happen? It is, but you think facebook is just going to sit back and toss 400 million at something like VR and not get any money back? You'd be a fool to think they wouldn't. It might not be this year, or the next, but count on it, Facebook is doing this to benefit themselves.

So the only thing we can hope is that they make an Adblock for Oculus VR headsets in the near future.

 

[mikeaj]

I don't know if the culture's changed, but there were complaints from / about the Steam Box hardware team about the R&D process there and hirings. Valve may not necessarily be the greatest environment for a hardware project. I know zero about their interest in VR though. Oculus now has a large cash infusion to run things with and more legitimacy in at least some respects.

Anyway, if your're working on the design and the technology, you're probably less concerned (than say all the angry computer gamers) about long-term productization / usage models and more with resources to build what you want and creative latitude.

 

[Deadboy90]

This is making my cautious optimism turn to actual optimism.

 

[Deadboy90]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boinz

Heres the problem, is gaming VR going to happen? It is, but you think facebook is just going to sit back and toss 400 million at something like VR and not get any money back? You'd be a fool to think they wouldn't. It might not be this year, or the next, but count on it, Facebook is doing this to benefit themselves.

So the only thing we can hope is that they make an Adblock for Oculus VR headsets in the near future.

If they put ads in VR it will kill it and they lose all that money, I'm sure they know that.

 

[Ikon]

He like so many others have done a lot in their lives that benefits others and people are just badmouthing without a valid reason when they themselves do not contribute on anything useful.
And how exactly would he be able to get a piece of that $2 billion cake?

Oculus is now more stable then ever with a big company behind them. They didn't have the money to make things happen big time. It's been a question mark will it gain critical mass when it releases or not. Now they have the possibility to sell it even without a profit margin when it releases to help it gain traction and go on for years if it is a slow start.

The software side Facebook wants to put pressure on might not be all bad either. We will see. And as far as i understood, if you want to play Far Cry 7 instead of facebooking, you are allowed to do so.

 

[Boinz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deadboy90

If they put ads in VR it will kill it and they lose all that money, I'm sure they know that.

Didn't stop them from putting ads on facebook or going public. They'll do it and get away with it, cause they know it.

Like I said, it might not be right now, or the year after, but Facebook is going to make a profit off this and then some.

 

[RiverOfIce]

There is no "or" just "and".

He thinks that the best way to make VR happen is to follow the money. Valve did not or could not provide that money, so when the money train pulled up next to him he jumped on.

Does not mean he is not a visionary. Einstein "sold out" to the patent office. Jobs sold out to IBM in 1994. Microsoft sold out too.

When you have a chance to make a ton of money and do what you love to do, DO IT.

 

[Cryosis00]

Carmack - " How is Valve VR going? You know I left ID Software because of the amazing, cutting edge work going on over at Oculus Rift. VR is the future."

Abrash - " Well its my title, not a whole lot"

Carmack - " We are part of Facebook now, with a $2billion investment. It would be amazing to work together again and push the envelope, like we did 20 years ago"

Abrash- "John, you had me at VR"